Rating: 
Summary: Understated, intelligent, and thoughtful movie
Review: The Brits really have something over the Americans when it comes to subjects like this. Compare this movie with Ghost and you'll know what I'm talking about. It's nice to see something done with intelligence for a change--especially in the "romance" genre. It is refreshing to see actors who resemble REAL people, not some pre-fabricated, air-brushed, version of humanity that Hollywood *thinks* we want. Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson are terrific as usual, as is the entire cast. TMD made me sob in the theatre more than a decade ago. It was well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Weak Plot
Review: What happens when the husband of a widow comes back as a ghost and starts hanging around the house? In "Truly Madly Deeply" he sneezes because he is cold, invites dead friends over to watch movies, and repeatedly tells his wife he can ask them to leave. The movie begins with promise as Juliet Stephenson gives a very gripping emotional portrayal of a widow, Nina, grieving over her lost husband Jamie played by Alan Rickman. There is momentary intrigue as we wonder whether Nina is so grief stricken her imagination has run away or whether her Jamie has really come back as a ghost. The intrigue quickly fades. This movie fails to build up a single dramatic question, and quickly fizzles into a boring string of scenes where one can expect Jamie is going to leave to let Nina live her life. When Nina meets a special-education teacher and takes a romantic interest, Jamie quietly leaves and his conflict is weakly dramatized with a sad face looking out the window as he gets a pat on the shoulder from a dead friend.
Rating:
Summary: Truly, Madly for Alan
Review: In a movie categorized as a romance, there's little of it for Alan Rickman fans. He plays 'Jamie' the ghost of a lover from a grieving woman, 'Nina' (played by Juliet Stevenson). The title should have the word 'Sadly' in it, because her character is in every scene. Alan sings, using a cello as a guitar, which is the highlight of this bore of a movie, which spends too much time on men ranting about 'Nina', and the viewer is painstakingly put through scenes of Stevenson wildly dancing all over the set as though she needs to be tied down and heavily sedated. Alan won a BAFTA award, but truly could have found a better vehicle for his talent. Thank you for doing it anyway, Alan. And I don't care what anyone says, your moustached lips or shaven are welcome here.
Rating:
Summary: Truly, Madlyk, Deeply
Review: One of the finest films about grieving and death I have ever seen. Humorous as well as infinitely touching, this film examines the depths to which we can fall in not letting go of one we love. Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and Michael Maloney all give absolutely riviting, beautiful performances. Alan Rickman, one of the finest actors of our generation, again proves himself master at subtle comic delivery and timing, as well as breaking our hearts. Juliet Stevenson gives a magnificent performance as a woman who cannot let go, and gets that second chance she has dreamed of; she reaches to places few actors dare to go. Michael Maloney is charming and moving as the man who dares to love Juliet despite herself. In the best of British tradition, this film moves slowly and quietly, creating characters we come to love, encompassing both pain and humor as it illustrates the need for each of us to accept and move on. Beautiful. You will not be disappointed. (PS: The cello scene is one of the most moving ever captured on film...you will know it when you see it!>)
Rating:
Summary: Not "the best film of the year" by a long shot
Review: I'm not sure why this movie is called a romantic comedy. It is not particularly romantic, nor is it particularly comical. It is 107 minutes of a movie that made me truly madly deeply passionately deliciously jucily want to kill something. The movie has its moments, I'll admit. The poem scene was wonderful, and the hop-on-one-foot-and-tell-me-your-life-story scene was good until it got too long. But there are just some things that should not make it into a movie called "the thinking person's Ghost." Insane musical numbers in bathrobes, for one example. Unresolved plot twists about the struggle of immigrants, for another (nothing is ever done about the employer who is mistreating his employees, unless turning a russian novel into a dove to break up a fight counts as a solution). I'm sorry to the people who love this movie, but I found it nonsensical. It was a wonderful idea, poorly executed. There is a difference between going back to everyday arguments and "why are you embarrassing me in front of all my dead friends who just want to take over your house and watch videos 24 hours a day?" And on the topic of Alan Rickman... I love Alan Rickman. He's the reason I watched the movie in the first place. But I don't think he was right for the role of Jamie. At all. Or at least the people responsible for hair and makeup wrecked the role for him. It was very difficult to accept him as a touching character while he looked totally untrustworthy and frightening. After watching this movie, I am left wondering why I did, and more, why anyone was willing to be a part of it in the first place. (incidentally, this review actually refers to the laser disk version of the movie)
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